College of Engineering

College of Engineering

Houston Baptist University recognizes the growing need for engineers and information specialists who understand how to incorporate complex, state-of-the-art technologies in the systems that they design, implement and secure. To meet the need for Houston’s energy, computing/software/information, maritime, manufacturing, healthcare, financial, and aerospace industries, HBU has established a College of Engineering.

The College of Engineering was established in September 2017, based upon an extensive, external feasibility study, documented local and national demand, and recommendations of an Engineering Advisory Board. The founding dean of the College, Dr. Stan Napper, was hired in the summer of 2017, and degree programs were developed that fall.

The new programs in Cyber Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering, will start in the fall of 2018. These programs provide the only BS-level degrees in cybersecurity, and the College of Engineering is the only engineering college offering cybersecurity education, in the entire Houston metropolitan area.

Vision

The vision of the College of Engineering at HBU is to be the best in the world for integrating fundamental principles of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and modern computing and information technology (IT), with historic Christian values and standards (FAITH) to serve God and serve mankind. These three “pillars” (STEM, IT, Faith) supporting each other and supporting each graduate meet a significant need in the world of the 21st-century challenges, and uniquely position HBU as a preparer of talent for the workforce, the community and the world.

Mission

The mission of the College is to educate and train engineers who will utilize God-given resources and God-given talents to serve humanity by solving technical challenges efficiently and securely. HBU Engineers serve the Lord Jesus Christ and serve mankind by making the world healthier, more productive and more secure.

Industry Demand

Healthcare Cybersecurity

The need for engineers and scientists who can design and secure information and control systems is large and growing:

300,000 jobs for cyber professionals in the US (2 million globally)

More than 3,300 jobs for cyber professionals in the Houston area (20,000 in Texas)

Cyber workforce needed for business vitality in Houston in Energy, Healthcare, Maritime, Banking and Finance, Legal, Education and other industry sectors

US Department of Homeland Security has identified 16 critical infrastructure industries, all of which are present in the Houston metro area

Engineering Advisory Board

HBU’s Engineering Advisory Board began meeting in May of 2015 to study the possibility of establishing a College of Engineering. The Board, which is comprised of industry experts in engineering and IT, conducted a literature review, analyzed labor market data, and collected information from industry partners to determine areas of possible growth. Based on this information, the focus of the Board quickly centered on creating a degree program in Cyber Engineering as a first step in building programs under a College of Engineering. The Cyber Engineering program is unique to this region and will result in the production of highly sought-after graduates in this emerging professional field. Members of this Board represent major companies and agencies and are responsible for securing the physical and digital systems of their stakeholders. Members of this Board have also served on advisory boards for academic engineering programs at Texas A&M University, University of Houston, and Louisiana Tech University.

CyberSeek

CyberSeek is a unique tool designed to decode the relationship between job seekers and employers hiring for in-demand cybersecurity skills. This interactive set of maps, tools, and career pathways aligned to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Workforce Framework is an important step towards addressing one of the most critical workforce challenges of our time. CyberSeek provides job seekers, employers, educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders with detailed, actionable data about the cybersecurity job market.

The tool shows a national demand of approximately 300,000 cybersecurity professionals, with a demand of over 20,000 cybersecurity professionals for the State of Texas, with a supply that is rated “Very Low”. In the Houston metropolitan area alone, the demand is estimated to be over 3,300, with a supply that is rated to be “Very Low.”

Cyber Houston

Houston Cybersecurity Workforce Report

Cyber Houston was established by the Greater Houston Partnership to serve as a Task Force for supporting the metro area. The Cyber Task Force released a report in October 2015 on “Cybersecurity and Business Vitality.” The Task Force provided a number of recommendations for protective measures, awareness measures, and response to criminal cyber activity. The report provided specific recommendations for different major business sectors (e.g. Energy, Healthcare, Legal, Banking and Finance, and Education). Finally, the Greater Houston report noted in 2015 that “job postings had grown 74 percent in just six years, twice as quickly as other IT jobs.” Opportunities in cybersecurity are growing faster than employers can fill them. They project median salaries for cybersecurity jobs to be between $70,000 and $118,000. And 84 percent of the cybersecurity positions require a bachelor’s degree or higher. HBU is represented on this Task Force as they work to update the report.

Features of the College of Engineering

Learning by Doing

College of Engineering students will learn to address cyber-related issues (e.g., security, internet of things, embedded systems, software protection, network defense, programming, mobility) from the beginning of the freshman year. The first-year projects curriculum utilizes a hardware platform (mobile electronics kit, computing kit) to provide students hands-on projects in learning the intricacies of engineering and computing that results in an immersive learning environment. This curriculum cultivates problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Students look at problems (typically in the cyberspace domain), design algorithms and propose them as solutions. Finally, they analyze the solutions.

All majors in the College begin with a two-semester sequence of engineering projects, the SAFE Lab Engineering Projects, during the first year of the curriculum. These courses are taken in conjunction with MATH (calculus) Also required in the first year of the curriculum is the two-semester sequence of cyber projects, the SAFE Lab Cyber Projects.

Curricular Threads

Curricular threads are broad themes or topics that appear in many if not all courses in a degree program. These themes will appear to some degree in all three of the HBU College of Engineering programs. Curricular threads include Cloud Computing (storage, access, security), Cybersecurity, Mobility (wireless networks, mobile devices, Internet of Things), Data Analytics (Big Data, machine learning), and Project Management.

Student-Owned Laboratories

Students will be required to have an appropriate laptop and the curriculum’s hardware platforms, contained in the kits which are provided as part of the SAFE Lab Engineering and SAFE Lab Cyber courses. The students’ own solutions to the challenges, projects and open-ended exercises will be implemented using this platform.

Professional Learning Experiences

All students in the College of Engineering will complete a year-long senior project, directed by faculty but sponsored by industrial partners. In addition, all students will complete at least one professional education experience (i.e., internship). HBU staff will assist students in identifying internship opportunities from among many corporate partners.

What to Expect of the College of Engineering

Students in the College of Engineering can expect to learn fundamental engineering, science and math principles, and to learn how these topics relate to one another to enable problem-solvers to create innovative and implementable solutions. Students can expect to utilize modern computing and information technology effectively and securely. Students can expect to learn how biblical Christian values will help them to serve God and serve humanity through technical and creative problem-solving. Students can expect to be challenged, to be motivated, and to develop as leaders.

Related Student Organizations

As the College of Engineering grows, building the degree programs one year at a time, student chapters will be formed, and all students will be encouraged to join one or more professional organizations, such as:

Accreditation

Engineering and computer science undergraduate degree programs are accredited by ABET through the Engineering Accreditation Commission and the Computing Accreditation Commission. Our initial application for accreditation will be submitted after our first class graduates, anticipated in spring of 2022. As is common for new engineering programs, we will request that our accreditation be made retroactive back to our charter class so that their degrees are included.

Dean Stan Napper has served as a Program Evaluator for ABET (for Biomedical Engineering programs), served on the BMES Accreditation Activities Committee for many years, and served on the ABET Board of Directors for six years (which included three years as ABET Board Liaison to the Engineering Accreditation Commission). Dr. Napper served as dean of the College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech University from 2004-2013. During this time (in 2008), he led the campus through successful accreditation of seven engineering programs, two engineering technology programs, and the computer science program.

The degree programs at HBU have been designed with ABET accreditation in mind. Curriculum, courses, educational objectives, and student outcomes for our programs meet the definitions and criteria for accreditation. Assessment processes have been designed to enable sufficient data for evaluation and continuous improvement.

Comments from Houston Area Executives Regarding Need for HBU College of Engineering Programs:

I commend HBU for the stand-up of the College of Engineering, and especially the Cyber Engineering program. The world right now is experiencing a technical revolution; automation and integration exposes industry to new threats and vulnerabilities, especially in the petro-chemical industry and our nation’s maritime transportation system. I have no doubt that with your guidance, student cyber engineers will acquire the skill sets and the desires to move forward and defend our industries from cyber attacks.

Randal Ogrydziak

Director, Safety, Port of Beaumont

As a consumer of cyber resources, I will tell you that it is difficult to find and retain seasoned talent as the market is very competitive. I am excited about the opportunity to partner with Houston Baptist University in the development of new talent in the cyber security industry. Our plans are to support this endeavor with opportunities for internships, and eventually, employment offers as the program matures and graduates become available.

Randy Yates

Information Security Officer, Memorial Hermann

“It’s very exciting to be part of this very important program as it is being rolled out. From my perspective, we provide the cyber security, advanced analytics, machine learning, and other advanced services to keep up with the adversaries, not just for government entities but also for corporations. The importance of this for Houston is going to be as the city looks to bring in new companies, and to build current companies, access to a talent pool is important for our economy. As traditional technology spending may stay stagnant or the same, there is a big increase around the security side. More and more executives, boards of directors etc. have cadences around the capabilities of cyber security. It is a risk that more companies are acknowledging. More of the headlines we are reading in the newspapers today focus around the impact to global corporations from adversaries thousands of miles.

It’s very exciting to see this program being developed here in our hometown. I love the idea of having the advisory board. When you’re working through something like a cyber security program, you don’t have the advantage to have your students in isolation away from the real-life environment until they graduate. So having a program that engages real life corporations and partners throughout the program is something that will be such an advantageous system for the students as they graduate.”

Hadassa Lutz

Manager, Houston Division, Cybraics

Based on my academic and industry experience in the area of Telecommunications, and Oil and Gas, I had the opportunity to go through the different degree programs, and tried to evaluate each program from three different perspectives: 1: market need, 2: academic plan and curriculum, and 3: technical-environmental conditions in Houston. In my opinion, the suggested curriculum for each degree program will provide students with a total learning experience, equip the students with the knowledge and tools to help them be successful in their future jobs, and help them overcome the technical challenges of the future. I do believe that the designed curriculum will provide the educational goals and objectives, and the same will produce good professionals with knowledge and experience to establish themselves as leaders in the needed technical areas for Houston and elsewhere.

The future graduates will help solve the deficit of professionals in the area of Cyber Engineering.

Zadok Hakim, PhD

Chairman Advisory Board, TriGen Energy PD

This program will bring significant benefits to our community, the region and the industry as a whole. There is an increasing demand for cyber security professionals today, and there will undoubtedly continue to be in the future. The challenge of cyber security is a high priority, and the need for well-trained and ethical cyber security experts at all levels is becoming mission critical for every organization. I am honored to be part of this initial effort to bring this program to our students and community. The timing could not be better.

John Alawneh, PhD

Chief Information Officer, Katy Independent School District

Back in the late 1990s, we had two groups of people, the traditional IT people and the operational technology people who were responsible for field operations. Cybersecurity should be under one umbrella. Information and operational technology need to have the same vision. You cannot treat their security as silos.

The HBU College of Engineering program will deliver to its students the foundation needed to innovate and secure the future in science and technology.

Mario Chiock

Fellow and CISO Emeritus, Schlumberger Limited

I honestly owe a lot of my success to my time at Louisiana Tech’s engineering program that Dr. Napper founded there [Randle was a student of Dean Napper at Louisiana Tech]. A lot of it was not necessarily about the book smarts and the equations, but it was teaching me how to think about complex problems and how to break them down into their constituent pieces so that they can be solved in a repeatable way. What I am really looking forward to seeing at HBU is the same culture to be implemented.

I have a long career in cyber security and there is a huge skills gap and a huge employment gap, and anything Houston can do to help with that, especially with the oil and gas firms and the improving economy here in Texas and Houston, is well needed. So congratulations, and good for you guys for putting this together.